Cartography Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Claudius Ptolemy, working in the second century AD, set out detailed instructions for mathematical mapmaking in Geographia. The Almagest is his astronomical work, and Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is the much later atlas of Ortelius, so neither belongs to Ptolemaic cartography.

Answer: B

Ptolemy was active in the second century AD, and his work was recovered in Europe more than a thousand years later, where it shaped Renaissance mapmaking. The fifteenth century is when his work was rediscovered, not when it was written.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Three

The T-O map divides the world into Asia, Europe and Africa - the three continents known to the medieval European tradition, and the three said to have been apportioned to the sons of Noah. The scheme is theological and symbolic rather than geographical, which is why it survived so long unchanged.

Answer: D

Correct answer: the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile

The stem of the T is the Mediterranean, separating Europe from Africa, and its crossbar is formed by the Nile and the Don separating both from Asia. The O is the encircling ocean, and east is at the top with Jerusalem at the centre - an arrangement of belief rather than of survey.

Answer: A

Portolan charts take their name from the portolano, the pilot book listing sailing courses, ports and anchorages. They were drawn for practical navigation rather than for the theological purposes the medieval world maps served.

Answer: B

Petrus Vesconte produced it at Genoa in 1311, and it is said to mark the beginning of professional cartography. Lisbon and Amsterdam became important mapmaking centres later, during the age of exploration and the Dutch golden age respectively.

Answer: C

Correct answer: repeated revision and new compass surveys

Portolan charts were working documents, corrected by pilots against what they found on each voyage and drawn from compass bearings between harbours. That accumulation of practical observation produced Mediterranean coastlines of remarkable accuracy while the scholarly world maps of the same period remained schematic.

Answer: D

Correct answer: 1569

Mercator published his world chart in 1569, expressly for navigation: a course of constant bearing appears on it as a straight line, which is what a navigator with a compass needs. The mathematical justification for the spacing of the parallels was supplied later, by Edward Wright in 1599.

Answer: A

A line of constant compass bearing appears straight on the projection, which is exactly what a navigator needs to lay off a course. The price is severe area exaggeration toward the poles, and the poles themselves cannot be shown at all.

Answer: B

The map of Europe of 1554 established his reputation, and the world map carrying his projection followed in 1569. Keeping the two dates apart matters because both are commonly quoted for him, and only the later one carries the projection.